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Who is accountable? The need for transparency in the feed supply chains Michiel Fransen, Aquaculture Stewardship Council Report of slave labor in Asian forage fisheries, illegal deforestation linked to some Brazilian soy production… (aqua)feed and feed manufacturers are becoming more and more exposed to public sustainability concerns. This often comes with reputational risks – both to the companies involved as to the overall industry. As global attention on sustainability issues increases, it is expected that also public scrutiny on feed-related sustainability issues will rise with it. Supply chain engagement, transparency and therefore accountability, are crucial for its actors in meeting societal expectations to address these concerns. The majority of aquafeed raw material is produced from agricultural crops or animals (aquatic and terrestrial) with the biggest proportion being crop-based (70-75% of the global aquafeed ingredient volume). For decades the aquafeed sustainability discussion has primarily focused on the replacement of marine ingredients with crop-based ingredients. In recent years, this debate has highlighted the need to also focus on social issues in fisheries such as malpractices on fishing vessels, and environmental and social issues linked to poor agricultural practices such as deforestation and community displacement. Given the proportion of feed they already make up, ingredients derived from agriculture are to be considered as additional ingredients, not as alternatives, with respect to sustainability concerns. As for all products that have long and complex supply chains, it is unrealistic to expect the feed manufacturer to have full insight, or control, on matters occurring further down in the supply chain. Ingredients are sourced from global markets and traders, which in turn source from global raw material producers, often linked to other supply chains and subject to multiple processing
steps. This complexity makes product traceability and overall supply chain transparency challenging, and yet, these elements are the “new needs” of supply chains within the wider sustainability discussion. Service-orientated supply chains see these opportunities and are indeed adapting to meet these new market expectations over time. For example, the global coffee and chocolate industry has leveraged a high degree of transparency, traceability and sustainability information transfer within their supply chains. Are these supply chains thus free of problems regarding, for example, social malpractices? Far from it, but while malpractices still occur, greater transparency means the affected actors are able to respond collectively, and thus more effectively, compared with conventional hidden supply chains. As such, supply chain transparency is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Within aquafeed, a good example is continuous progress being made in the marine ingredients supply chain. Persistent efforts by key actors (including major feed manufacturers but also fisheries, processors and traders) have resulted in more and more sustainability concerns being addressed and relevant information becoming available to its users. A pre-competitive attitude has been crucial for this success.
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 13 Issue 1 2021
